Even Angels FallChapter VWritten by Takato MetalliumDisclaimer: I disclaim all rights to Sonikku-tachi. They belong to SEGA, Sonic Team and others. I only own these versions, the fic, the idea and not much else next to a Shadow plushie.Chapters:I | II | III | IV

"You’ve done well, Shadow."

"Indeed," he murmured, looking down at the blue hedgehog he held in his arms. "I can’t believe how easy it was. They’re too gullible. All of them."

Black Doom gave a light chuckle, not missing the way his heir glared possessively when he ran one clawed hand through Sonic’s quills. Ah, yes...it had been entirely too long... "And the Emeralds are ours once again; two for the price of one." The blue colour suddenly seemed to fade from the sleeping hedgehog, leaving behind coarse black fur with streaks of red at the tips of his long spines and hands. "Although I myself must admit that you put on quite the convincing show. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you were telling the truth."

Shadow felt his grip tighten around his mate as his master’s hand now trailed down Sonic’s face. He smirked darkly, closing his eyes. "I’ve lied all my life. It came naturally. Maria always said I was such an actor." He felt a little twinge of guilt as his dead friend’s name fell from his lips. ‘No. I fulfilled my promise to her. Now I can do what I like to that planet. And with Sonic by my side, nothing will be impossible.’

The golden eyes staring down at them seemed to smile as he retracted his hand. "I have removed his memories of everyone and twisted those of myself and you; it will make it that much easier to bend him to our will." Black Doom turned to leave. "I give you a month to train him. By then I expect him to be ready to attack that miserable mudball of a planet."

Shadow bowed his head, drawing his mate closer to his body. "As you wish, Lord Doom." He turned away as his master faded from sight, walking over to the large bed in the centre of the room and placing the other hedgehog down on the black silk sheets. He planted a kiss on Sonic’s parted lips, looking down at him.

"I’m sorry I had to lie to you," Shadow whispered truthfully, unconsciously tracing the path Black Doom had made in the now-black quills. His crimson eyes saddened, his thumb trailing softly over his mate’s cheek. "You won’t remember it anyway. You’ll just be pure, raw Sonic. Who you were meant to be." He laid down next to him, tucking his head underneath the other’s chin and wrapping an arm around his body. "I promised myself that I’d free you, and I have. Now..." His hand ran through the black fur on his mate’s chest, a little disappointed that it was no longer the blue and cream he had grown so fond of.

"...Now, you can spread those ebony wings of yours and fly through the darkness with me."

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He was dimly aware of pressure against his chest as he woke. Opening his eyes, he lifted his head slightly to look down and he saw the other hedgehog resting against him, snuggled peacefully. He smiled inwardly, raising his hand to run it through those wayward quills of his mate. Something felt like it was...missing, he suddenly realised as he used an elbow to prop himself up, careful not to disturb his other half from his sleep. He brushed the feeling aside, content with leaning against his elbow on the silk sheets of the bed and watching his mate sleep, only to find that ruby eyes were looking up at him in surprise.

"You’re awake," Shadow said softly, reaching up to run a hand over his peach cheek.

He nuzzled the hand. "What happened?" he asked in a whisper, regarding his mate with confused crimson-tinted emeralds. "...Was it another test?"

Shadow shook his head as he realised these so-called "tests" must have been a part of Black Doom’s memory-erase, leaning forward to cup his hands over the other hedgehog’s own. "No. You were attacked... We went down to the surface of that planet, remember?" Some part of what he said must have clicked in place with his other and the knife called ‘guilt’ twisted a deeper wound in his gut. "You were out of it for several days; it’s no surprise you don’t remember something."

"Happens to the best of us." Shadow gave him an encouraging smile even if it didn’t reach his eyes. "But Lord Doom wants you to retrain yourself for a month. He was quite...disappointed with how things went."

"At least it’s just a retrain." He laughed lightly, shoulders shaking with mirth. "I’ve probably gotten rusty or something." He pulled his hands away and cracked his knuckles. "We haven’t attacked a planet in so long; I can’t wait to shed some blood."

Shadow watched him talk with sad eyes. It was the same voice but it wasn’t; those brilliant emerald eyes were tainted with crimson blood; that gorgeous blue fur was now as dark as his own; the laugh he just heard was nothing short of sinister and deadly.

It wasn’t his Sonic.

Not for the first time, Shadow cursed Black Doom for being immortal even after death.

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– Sometime later; Earth –

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The days went by slowly now that Sonic wasn’t around anymore but it wasn’t long before a month turned into fifteen years or so. Some things changed yet most of the time they stayed the same. Espio Chameleon reflected on these things as he wiped a cloth over another table in the cafe. Vector was out with friends; Martina’s cram school classes would have just finished, so his son was on his way home, and Eggman was at the Prower residence helping Tails finish their latest joint project, leaving him alone to look after the cafe.

He sighed as he stood from where he had leant over, throwing the wash rag over his shoulder. Business had been slow lately, reminding him of a time when he, Vector and Charmy waited around a makeshift office for work that would never come.

His thoughts went back to the younger bee as they often did; after his divorce with Cream, Charmy had all but disappeared, leaving no clue to his absence other than a note saying he was going to travel the world. Espio thought of Waffle and how the young rabbit wanted to pull free of his mother’s leash and find his father. Even though they hadn’t seen him in years, Charmy still sent welfare money to Cream to help her get by in raising their son with the help of her mother, Vanilla.

Amy and Tails lived together in Mystic Ruins with their daughter Lina, now a happily married couple of ten years. Tails had never quite gotten over Sonic’s choice and it was a general agreement amongst the adults to never mention his name around him, as Tails would often get moody and bury himself in his work for days. While Amy worked at the local bakery, he was teaching science technology at a university in downtown Station Square.

Lina was like her father – a brilliant twin-tailed kitsune who had been taken under Eggman’s wing at a young age. Unfortunately, she had picked up on her ‘uncle’ Knuckles’ tendency to swear sometime around then as well. She had been pushed forward to high school like Tails had been and was rather popular amongst her peers much to her disgust – she was a techno geek through and through.

Rouge and Knuckles had moved to a quaint little A-frame house just outside the city in the suburbs not long after she gave birth to their son, Bandit. Rouge was now a stay-at-home mother while Knuckles, having grown tired of the quiet life, became an archeologist after attending the university where Tails taught his classes. He was currently home from a recent finding overseas in Cat Country, but was set to return to work in about a week’s time.

From the moment he was born, Bandit was a rogue child, liking to giving his parents heart attacks by doing the unthinkable. Though it had smoothed out as he got older, Bandit was still the trouble-making youngster everyone remembered him to be and often got himself into trouble. His patriarchal inheritance, the Master Emerald, lay around his neck as it was shrunk to the size of regular Emeralds thanks to a device Tails and Eggman whipped up together.

Bandit had a younger sister by the name of Diamond, born a year after he had been. Diamond was purely Rouge’s child, unlike her brother, and had taken a liking to precious gemstones at a young age. The girl was studying to become a treasure hunter nee archeologist like her father was and poured her heart and soul into her studies. She had been pestering Martina to go out on a date for years, kind of like how Amy used to be with Sonic but not bordering on fangirlism, and didn’t mind if they stayed friends.

And Martina... Espio smiled and shook his head at the thought of his son. Martina was special, having been born with a magical gene that only showed up in various people once every thousand years. They had stuck him with the name after they discovered that his powers brought out a female side. With his aqua-green hair, blue skin and amethyst eyes, Martina – from the age of ten onwards – had unwillingly picked up his own fanclub despite his name. Espio had trained him to be a ninja since before he could walk and he sometimes used that training to escape the fangirls, much to his amusement.

"I’m home."

‘Speak of the devil...’ Espio turned around and smiled at his son, watching Martina close the door and kick off his sneakers at the doorway, picking them up as he went, his other hand clutching at a strap to the backpack slung over his shoulder. "Welcome home. How was cram school?"

The blue chameleon rolled his eyes heavenward and let out a sigh. "I swear, sometimes I want to smack that teacher so hard his entire family would feel it. Or at least give him a nosebleed in female form. I honestly don’t know how Diamond can stand him."

Espio put his hands on his hips, almost immediately going into ‘mother-mode’ as Vector so fondly called it. "The difference between you and Diamond is that she actually wants to graduate with a degree in something. You don’t graduate just by sitting around playing video games all day."

"How many times have we had this conversation now? I’ve lost track." Martina threw up his hands, walking past him towards the entryway to the apartment out back. "Honestly, I’ve got years to learn something. Let me be a kid while I have the chance." When he got no response from his ‘mother’, Martina all but slammed the door.

He sighed, drawing his hands together as his face saddened and he leant against a table. He had tried to be the best parent he could be, yet he and Martina always seemed to have this conversation once or twice every two weeks. The ground shook and Espio had to hold onto the table that he leant against to steady himself, frowning. "Martina! How many times to I have to tell you not to use magic in the house! Especially earthquakes!"

The teenager poked his head out of the doorway to the cafe from the connected house, a piece of bread in his mouth with an accusing look on his face. "It’s not me, mum! I swear!"

"Then what...?" A sudden movement out the corner of his eye made him turn his head and stare out the large glass windows that surrounded the cafe on all sides. "No... It can’t be!"

The Black Arms...?

Attacking the city again...?

Then...had Shadow...had Shadow lied to them all those years ago...?

Martina noticed the way he was looking at the creatures outside and moved closer, thumb and forefinger taking hold of the bread he was chewing on to keep it in his mouth as the building shook again. "Mum, who’re those guys? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something."

Parental instinct told Espio to move in front of his child and he did so, earning a weird look as he glanced over his shoulder, beginning to undress from the standard cafe uniform he wore. "Martina, when I say run I want you to run." His voice was so calm he even surprised himself, although current visions of strangling Shadow ran through his mind. "This is something you can’t understand."

The blue chameleon gritted his teeth angrily; again...again his mother treated him like he was just a child... "Try me," he hissed, crumbling what was left of his snack in his hand and letting it fall to the floor. "Is this some kind of enemy you and dad faced in the past?"

"Head out the back door and go to Knuckles’. Rouge will look after you." Espio purposefully ignored his son’s question, thinking carefully. His kunai and ninja stars lay up in the attic collecting dust along with everything else from the time of the Chaotix Detective Agency, and only something short of a miracle was going to allow him to head up there and back down in such a short amount of time.

"Mum, you know that Bandit’s just going to head into battle regardless of what his parents say." Martina crossed his arms over his chest, the tassels of his red hoodie swaying lightly as he did so. "Who’s to say that I won’t tag along? You’re out of practice; there’s no way you could survive out there without some form of backup." He sighed, closing the gap between them and reaching around to hug his ‘mother’ from behind. "I know you worry about me. You have every right to but...don’t you think it’s time I learned to stand on my own? I have my magic. I can take care of myself."

"I don’t want to loose you." Espio relished the hug – Martina hadn’t hugged him since he was a child. "You’ve no idea how close I came to loosing your father a couple of times in the past... You’re inexperienced...anything could happen out there..."

‘Just like with Mighty...’

"The only way I’m going to get experience is if you let me come with you," the boy gently coaxed, squeezing his waist reassuringly.

The purple chameleon heaved a deep sigh, closing his eyes tight as he squeezed back. "You’re right... You can come on the condition that you stay close to me and listen to what I say." At Martina’s nod, Espio resigned himself to fate and broke away from his son’s grasp, readying himself for battle with a stern face. "Let’s go."

Yet every time he blinked he could see the fallen form of an armadillo, body shot through with lasers and blood pooling around his head like a halo. He remembered crying from the loss, vowing on the grave of his best friend to never let another person die in his care.

‘Please, God. If you exist...please don’t let me loose my baby like I lost Mighty.’